It can be hard work to find the right college for your young person, then to get that college named on the Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and the necessary funding secured. But once you’ve done that, you can put your feet up and relax, right?
Wrong! This year, dozens of young people were unable to start at their specialist college in September because no suitable transport arrangements were in place. A survey of specialist colleges undertaken by Natspec (link live from 10am) in November revealed that 65% had one or more young people who had a delayed start because of transport issues. One college had no fewer than 30 students in that position. When they should have been embarking on new courses, meeting new people and making new friends as they took their next steps towards adulthood, these youngsters were stuck at home.
69% of the respondents to the Natspec survey said students in their colleges had found it more difficult to get transport support this year than last, rising to 80% in London. So, what’s going on?
Post-16 transport getting more difficult to secure
Local authorities (LAs) are not statutorily required to provide transport support for post-16 students with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) like they are for school-aged children. Instead, they have to publish a post-16 transport policy statement in which the needs of young people with SEND are prioritised.
That means LAs see support for post-16s as fair game for cash-strapped LAs seeking to reduce their transport spend. It’s not clear how much LAs currently spend on post-16 transport but a BBC freedom of information request earlier this year found that the cost of school SEND transport had almost doubled over the last five years, rising from £727m in 2019 to £1.4bn in 2024, so it’s no surprise LAs are looking for cost-saving measures. The trouble is that restricting access to transport support has a human cost.
Transport issues causing anxiety and health issues for families
82% of Natspec’s survey respondents said that learners are experiencing anxiety as a result of transport issues. The physical health of some is also being affected. Some young people now have to make longer, more tiring journeys to college, as their shared transport picks up more passengers from a wider geographical area. Families are suffering from stress as they struggle to hold down jobs, meet personal and family commitments and get their disabled young person to and from college. More parents and carers are also being asked to make a greater contribution to travel costs, meaning many are also struggling with the increased financial burden.
LA post-16 policies more restrictive
Some LAs have formally revised their post-16 transport policies, bringing in more restrictive eligibility criteria, higher thresholds, or lower levels of financial support. Others have stuck with existing policies but have changed application processes so that families are having to jump through more hoops in terms of forms to complete, panels to pass through or lengthy appeals processes to navigate.
Parents have been caught in a Catch-22 situation where they have been refused transport support because they’ve missed a May deadline. Not through their own tardiness, but because the LA didn’t agree the young person’s college placement until July, way after the 31 March statutory deadline for naming post-16 provision in an EHCP.
Money before safety—and it’s going to get worse
Some LAs have been offering completely inappropriate or even unsafe transport support, suggesting the decision-makers have little understanding of special educational needs or disabilities. Learners who cannot travel independently have been issued with bus passes, while a public transport route involving three changes was suggested to another young person. Wheelchair users have been asked to use vehicles that are not fitted with appropriate restraints or reliable tail lifts. Some young people with high medical needs have been offered transport with no accompanying escort.
And if the picture is grim now, it seems it’s only likely to get worse. Since we started this research in October, we have been alerted to a growing number of LAs signalling that they will be revising their post-16 transport policies for 2024/25. Although our survey was of member colleges, who are all specialist providers, from conversations with colleagues in general FE colleges, we know this issue isn’t restricted to specialist settings. It’s affecting young people in all types of post-16 provision. This was clear from the contributions of MPs from across the country to this week’s packed Westminster Hall debate on the topic. Schools minister, Catherine McKinnell, acknowledged that SEND transport is a mess, but the solution she was offering won’t help in the short-term and possibly not much at all for college students. Educating more children in mainstream schools nearer to home may eventually lead to reduce transport costs for children, but it won’t help get post-16 students to college.
We need an urgent policy change to make things fair
That’s why Natspec is calling for an urgent change to national SEND post-16 transport policy so that 16–25-year-olds have the same rights to transport support as those statutorily set out for children of compulsory school age; it’s supposed to be a 0-25 system after all.
We also want to see decisions about transport being made in parallel with the naming of a college in a young person’s Education, Health and Care Plan. Because what’s the point of a local authority naming a college if the young person isn’t able to get there?
If you support these changes, please get behind this campaign, bringing it to the attention of your MP. And if you or your young person has been affected, why not get your story told in the local press? You can use our survey results and your own experience to highlight the issue.
Find the report here (after 10am)
Also read:
- Think work first: Supporting young disabled people into work
- The Lords publishes a “blueprint” to help young disabled people “thrive in work” saying too many are “written off”
- Post-16: mental capacity and the SEND Tribunal
- The next government must act to flatten the support ’cliff edge’ as young people with SEND become adults
- What would a well-functioning further education system for young people with SEND look like?
- What’s happening with the SEND & AP Change Programme— November 2024 update
- The Ombudsman wants to investigate complaints about schools: Will the government listen?
- How government-funded schools’ SEND training has young people’s experiences at its core.
- More “bold” reform for SEND and more children in mainstream—but how mainstream is it really?
- Commons committee lets the Department for Education off the hook—so we’ll do the scrutiny instead
How do you ensure pathways to education, health, and social care support, meet both diagnosis and needs?October 7, 2026
A council's "improvement journey"? How determined SEND parents catalogued the trail of their LA’s unlawful behaviourSeptember 29, 2026
- #SpecialistFEWorksforMe: Help celebrate the importance of specialist further education! - December 1, 2025
- The true cost of cuts to post-16 transport support? Disabled young people’s life chances - December 6, 2024
- What would a well-functioning further education system for young people with SEND look like? - April 17, 2024
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